The Mysteries of Lab 327
by carmesdi
Summary: In Lab 327, a young man begins work as a lab assistant for Dr. Nikola Young, a scientist who, according to the web, does not exist. The job is incredible, a dream come true, and you know what they say about things that are too good to be true... Post SFN2.
1. CH 1 - Lab Assistant Wanted

**The Mysteries of Lab 327 (Version 1.1)**

**Original prompt: I had**** just found out about the Boston Marathon and was not in a good place mentally. Everyone I know was safe, but my head was ringing with a certain someone saying "And you wonder why I hate people." I just felt absolutely compelled to write something, so I sat down and immediately wrote Chapters 1 and 5, and the rest of the story unfolded in the following days. **

******I initially described this story as "dark" but I think people read that as "tragic". What I meant was that I fully intend to write the characters as the amazingly brilliant, but maddeningly fallible people we adore. Also, the story main characters are Tesla, Henry, and Helen, but the posting used to read Helen/Henry which was weird so I pulled his name from the list.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Lab Assistant Wanted

Most people weren't dumb enough to accept a job offer that they hadn't even applied for.

Most people didn't turn down positions at highly respected universities or lucrative offers from wealthy, global companies to go be a lab monkey at some tiny, unknown private research facility.

Most people wouldn't ignore the fact that this particular company had been around for almost a century, but had only started patenting technology in the last few years, after their Old City laboratory exploded.

Most people weren't crazy enough, it's true, but Stefan Miller was not most people.

He had looked at this particular company, and remembered whispers on the web about their real purpose, whispers that had predated the company's massive downsizing years ago.

He had been bored by the idea of doing the same jobs everyone else in his year was doing; he wanted to be somewhere new.

He had been flattered by an offer he hadn't even courted, and he thought it spoke well of his potential coworkers to if they were all hand selected too.

Stefan was intrigued, so after several Skype interviews with the company's young CEO, a Mr. Henry Foss, he had been convinced to come out for a visit. The offices were unconventional, the company's resources were impressive, and the job itself was certainly... unusual.

He would be given an impressive budget for his own independent work, but a list of oddly primitive responsibilities for the lab's head researcher, serving almost as the man's secretary as well as his lab assistant. It seemed almost like the postdoctoral offers he had turned down, but for a scientist who according to the internet, had never published any papers, attended any schools, or filed any patents.

Mr. Foss had told him to hold judgment until he met his new boss, and he had, only to be blown away by the man's brilliance, his insight, and the depth and breadth of his knowledge of biology, chemistry, electronics, computer science, and engineering. Stefan realized that his own work would soon be sidelined, gladly, for the chance to assist this man in his work.

And so, Stefan came to work in Lab 327 at Sanctuary, a small research company based in London, England, as assistant to the technically non-existent Dr. Nikola Young.

Most people would've questioned the identity of the odd man who seemed to never sleep and outworked Stefan every night of the week. Many people would've questioned the fact that when Dr. Young traveled for business, he gave Stefan the days off, even insisted Stefan not come in to the lab.

Most people would've demanded to know why there seemed to be no logical processes to the projects they worked on, or why so few of them ever seemed to make it to the patent office.

Most people would've been suspicious of the mysterious door in the back of Dr. Young's lab, that Stefan was told explicitly to never enter, "or the least that would happen would be his immediate dismissal". Most people would've eventually been overwhelmed by curiosity and opened the door. Most people would've regretted doing so immediately.

Stefan Miller liked his new job very, very much, and luckily, he was not most people.

* * *

**I'm being very nebulous about what happened post SFN2 (for now). That's cause you'll be seeing this story though Stefan's eyes. **

**(And guesses and reviews are always appreciated! - But if you're going to complain about my grammar, please be specific!)**


	2. CH 2 - Zeds, Beds, and Meds

Chapter 2 – Zeds, Beds, and Meds

"Oh, oh, I got one – why does the cafeteria serve tacos on Friday? Everyone knows tacos should be served on Tuesday. I mean, come on: 'Taco Tuesday'."

"Niiiice."

High fives were shared by the large group of twenty-somethings sitting around a white board in one of the Sanctuary conference rooms. Pizza boxes lay strewn about, as well as many soda cans and beer bottles, marking this as a less-than officially sanctioned meeting. It was the first Friday night of the new month, and Stefan was being inducted into a very special group.

When Stefan had arrived at Sanctuary several weeks ago, he had been informed that like all new hires, he had the lowest possible security clearance - Level 0. He wasn't actually restricted from going anywhere, but it did affect day-to-day things like which meetings he could go to or what resources he could get without directly applying for them.

However, he'd soon found out that security clearance was also a large signifier of age and background. Level 0s were all relatively young like him, and were similarly recently hired directly from school or from their first jobs. Level 1s were older, had been around for a few years, and usually got their clearance just for individual specialized projects they worked on. Level 2s were heads of labs who had been around from this facility's start almost a decade ago, and the only level 3s seemed to be Mr. Foss and, to Stefan's surprise, Dr. Young.

The "fresh meat" had naturally started hanging out together, and a stray comment by the Canadian head of Lab 42 a year ago had lead to the nickname of Zeds, which they happily embraced. Now, they made a point of getting together every month for the mandatory sharing of work horror stories and rampant speculation about what dark, dangerous secrets were being kept from them.

"Speaking of food, why on Earth do they serve fish for breakfast?"

"Isn't that, like, a Eastern European thing?"

"Yeah, man, I think that one's legit."

"But it's grossss…."

They had spent the last hour making a list of all the highly suspicious things they'd thought of since last month, adding it to an ever-growing list that already included:

_The lab numbering – Lab 327 was on the second floor and Lab 251 was on the fifth_

_Vacation days that they were actually encouraged to use_

_There wasn't a single place in the building that __didn't__ have good cell reception and 5 bars of WiFi._

_Everyone got cake on his or her birthday_

All in all, Sanctuary seemed to be far too pleasant a place to work, and Stefan was encouraged by everyone else's upbeat attitudes. As they shifted to sharing "bad day" stories (because everyone has them regardless of how perfect the job), he discovered that he was a bit of an oddity. Until his arrival Dr. Young had not employed any scientists, just secretaries who had not had very successful tenures.

"Yeah, I heard that Mr. Foss himself was his lab tech when he first got here, cause he wouldn't let anyone else in the lab."

"Nah, man, he had a secretary, Gina told me. Mr. Foss was his lab assistant way back when they first met. Supposedly the doc gave him hell."

"Wait, and now he's his boss? Ouch."

"I heard he absolutely refused to hire any women."

"Whoa, hey, he can't do that!"

"Nah, nah, it's not a sexist thing. His last three female secretaries threw themselves at him – he complained it was getting in the way of his work!"

"I can't really blame them, I mean have you seen him? I couldn't focus on my work with him around!" At this, a burst of giggles rippled through all the female Zeds.

"Ignore them Stefan, they just make doe eyes at the doc when he stops by their labs. You don't have to worry about fighting through a crowd of fan girls to get to work." The last comment was from Andrew, one of the biomed engineers from Lab 112 who had decided as one of the "senior" Zeds to take Stefan under his wing. He was a big burly guy, with long brown hair and a beard, and a jovial voice that boomed across the room when he spoke.

"Aww, Andy, don't be mean!" said the original perpetrator of the giggle-fit that still hadn't totally died down, a tiny Irish girl named Jenny, who worked on Sanctuary computer security in Lab 251. "It doesn't hurt to look!"

"Look? Nah. But stare down with laser eyes…" Soon the conversation had devolved into comparisons of boss attractiveness, and by the end of the night (and several cases of beer later) it was generally decided that Sanctuary was, indeed, a very nice place to work….

* * *

Given Stefan's inability to navigate even his college town streets while inebriated, it was no surprise he had gotten dreadfully lost his first night out in the West End. Even now, after several tipsy misadventures down winding London streets, he still would have gotten himself hopelessly lost if it weren't for the convenient fact that the other Zeds were stumbling back to the same place. Instead of having to fight through the London housing market, Mr. Foss had actually purchased a retrofitted old Victorian manor that now served as "dorms" for all the younger hires. It was pretty nice, though it was hard to imagine who the previously occupants were, since it seemed like it had already been set up as more of a hotel than a house before they had moved in.

Stefan didn't dwell on this thought since by the time they made it back to the house/hotel/whatever-you-call-it, they were all still very, very sloshed. Stumbling up to his room, he barely noticed that there was a second presence as he began to haphazardly change into his pajamas.

It was only the telltale giggle, as he took of his shirt, which gave her away.

"Jenny! What are you…? Isn't your room in the other wing?"

This elicited another giggle from the very far-gone Jenny.

"Come on, Stefan, it's sooo far away." She started to pout, and Stefan quickly began to sober up as he realized her intentions.

"Um, whoa, no, I think you should probably make the trek anyways."

"But, Stefaaannn…"

"Hey, Jenny, you're really nice and all, but I just started working here, so you don't know me all that well and…"

"Hehehe, you're face looks so silly! Are you that scared of me jumping you, hmmm?"

"Um, look, you're not my type Jenny."

"Aw, Stefaaann." She was getting more petulant by the second. "Every guy digs redheads. It's a fact! A scientific fact! You should know that."

"Jenny, really, you're not - "

"It's cause we're coworkers isn't it? LAME. Whatever, fine, I'll go." Jenny turn around and practically flounced out the door, closing it a bit harshly behind her.

Stefan flopped down on his bed, now annoyingly clear headed, and sighed. She was a nice girl, but people weren't exactly her strong suit. Given the way he'd been looking at Andy (and, if he wasn't being too optimistic, the way Andy had been looking back), Jenny should really just stick to analyzing computer systems….

* * *

After his first somewhat chaotic month at Sanctuary, Stefan was finally starting to get a handle on everything when he managed to catch the flu. He tried to suffer in silence, but by the third day Dr. Young was practically yelling at him for every cough and sneeze. How he managed to hear Stefan from across the room, Stefan didn't know, but the doc had insisted he go see the in-house physician before he "contaminated every piece of equipment with his grubby, germy hands."

Stefan had not even realized there was an in-house doctor, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that visits were totally covered under his employee health plan.

When he arrived at the clinic, it looked like no doctor's office he'd ever seen. Instead it was an almost homey personal workspace, with several couches, rows of bookshelves, and an impressive computer setup on a large mahogany desk. Somewhat hidden in one corner was the more traditional examination table, sink, and cabinet of doctor-y odds and ends. There seemed to be only one doctor on staff, and she stood up and walked around her desk to greet him the moment he entered. The doctor was tall, with long dark brown hair tied back, and wearing a white lab coat over her clothes.

"Stefan Miller, yes? Nikola told me you'd be coming down. I hear you're bothering him immensely with your sniffling, yes? He must be giving you hell in the lab." She spoke with a British accent, which surprised Stefan; despite being headquartered in London, most of the people working here weren't from the UK.

"Oh, um, well, I mean, it is really loud, and I don't want to disturb him, he's really brilliant, and the work's he's doing is fascinating…"

"Ha, like his ego needs more inflating. Don't worry, Stefan, he's being a bit of a prat." He had never heard anyone refer to Dr. Young so… casually. "Well, I apologize for him, he's not exactly the most concerned and caring individual you'll ever work for. However, I've known him for a while and I can assure you that if that's his only complaint about you, he must like you."

His eyes must've gone wide at that last comment as she let out a soft laugh at his expression.

"Anyways, come on in and sit down. Let's see if we can't treat those Nikola-aggravating sniffles of yours…"

"Thanks, Doctor...?"

"Oh, excuse me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Erika, Dr. Erika Foss."

* * *

**Hehe... Sorry these are kinda disjointed, they're meant to fill in some holes before we jump into the meat of the story.**

**Edit: Props to Saphyr88 for being my American to British translator. :)**


	3. CH 3 - Family and Friends

Chapter 3: Family and … Friends

After several months of working at Sanctuary labs, Stefan still knew next to nothing about his boss. On the other hand, he knew plenty about the Foss family. It turned out that not only was the company CEO married to the in-house physician, but they also had two children, a boy in elementary school and a girl who was only three or four. Erika (she had insisted he call her that) often had the girl with her at work, and she was always disturbingly quiet and well-behaved for such a small child. The boy he'd only met once, when there had been a company picnic at one of the nearby parks, and he had been a bit more of a typical kid – spending the entire time sitting underneath a tree with a Nintendo 4DS, complaining about how lame the outdoors were. Erika had complained and sent her husband to take the device away, but Stefan had seen Mr. Foss hand it back soon after, and if he wasn't mistaken, had whispered something about a button combo and a hidden treasure chest.

The girl's name was Ashe, and he could never remember the boy's name because every time he tried, 'Alice' popped into his head for some reason...

However, in comparison to the openness of the "First Family", Dr. Young was still a completely closed book. Sure, Stefan knew the man was a genius, but he rarely discussed anything outside of work. He was there when Stefan arrived in the morning, and was always there when Stefan left. All he knew about the man was that he was always impeccably dressed, and always had a glass of wine at hand, except for the few times they worked in a clean room. It was a bit unnerving at times; Dr. Young always seemed to be casually sipping a glass of red that was half-full. Combined with the old-fashioned white lab coat he insisted they both wear, it seemed like the man was permanently stuck in the middle of a photo shoot for a 1940s-themed issue of _Mad Scientist Monthly_, waiting for Mr. Bond (James Bond) to walk in so he could gloat over the success of his evil plan.

After the second month, Dr. Young had stopped insisting Stefan not come in if he was traveling. He also never asked if Stefan had tried to open the mysterious door in the back of the lab. Stefan couldn't shake the feeling that Dr. Young would know the second he opened the door, regardless of where he was.

Stefan had mentioned the door briefly to some of the Zeds and received puzzled looks in response.

"Uh, door? Not sure what you mean, man. There's not one in any of the other labs," was Andrew's response. "Haven't heard anything about it from anyone else."

"Aren't you ever tempted? Just a little?" Jenny had instead been rather thrilled at the idea of a mysterious Pandora's Box–of-a-door. "Oooh, if you ever decided to rage quit you should totally find out what's inside! Just walk up and yank it open!"

Eventually, the Zeds had tossed the mysterious door on the list of suspicious things and forgotten about it. There were more pressing mysteries, like the recent change from birthday cake to birthday pie….

* * *

The first time he experienced Dr. Young in a foul mood, Stefan was very glad to say that it was not his fault in any way. Mr. Foss had come down to discuss something with him, but unlike normal meetings, he had asked Stefan to leave.

Stefan had simply grabbed his laptop and went to work in one of the conference rooms, but had headed back to the lab when his power began to run out. He had heard them talking rather loudly, but they had stopped talking the second he had come within hearing range. Odd coincidence that, but Stefan had not given it a second thought once he actually entered the lab and seen the death glare on Dr. Young's face, directed at Mr. Foss who seemed as cheerful as ever at his entrance.

"Hey Stefan, something wrong?"

"No, no, Mr. Foss, I just forgot my charger. Sorry, I'll be out of your way."

"That's alright. Say, Stefan, you hang out with some of the other younger hires, yes?"

For some reason, Dr. Young stood up straighter at this.

"Um, yeah, well, when you live and work together…"

"Yes, of course, that's the whole point! Don't suppose any of you guys have gone exploring that house, have you? There's some great little nooks and alcoves – "

At this point, Dr. Young decided to interject, curtly ending what was about to turn into awkward small talk. "Yes, yes, it's lovely catching up with the help. Stefan, leave. In fact, go home for the day. As for you, you're not out of trouble, Heinrich."

Stefan hadn't really had the time be offended by being called "the help", just grabbed his bag and practically fled the lab. It wasn't until he was halfway home that he thought about how odd it was to see Dr. Young taking Mr. Foss to task. The rumors might actually be true; maybe Mr. Foss had once been his lab assistant.

Also, was Henry short for Heinrich? Mr. Foss didn't look German… What a strange end of the day…

Jenny would love to hear that bit about their house; she had talked about putting together an "expedition party" one weekend and finding all the secret passageways. She claimed it was traditional in a house that was so old, but Andrew had said it was just because they had all watched Clue last week.

* * *

The second time he had the misfortune of being around Dr. Young in a bad mood had been much, much worse.

After four months, he and the Doc had settled into an almost comfortable working routine. Stefan had actually started to work on some personal side projects at Dr. Young's prompting, something about "not letting one's own creativity stagnate just because you are assisting with greatness." Yes, it had been a pompous way of stating the situation, but it was also kind of true. Dr. Young's work was distractingly impressive.

It was very difficult though, after seeing the kind of progress Dr. Young made in one day, to be content fighting through the slow progress of typical research. Plus, with Dr. Young's work, he never knew what they would be doing. Sometimes it was simple tech design, like a modified encrypted blue tooth headset or an improved backup generator for the facility. However, other days they hacked into their own databases to test security, constructed a detector for a very specific pattern of radiation, and even worked with Erika a few times developing theoretical medical treatments. Those projects had been the strangest, deliberately developing drugs and tech to treat incredibly unusual body chemistries. He had no idea what the company did with any of it, but Erika was such a sweetheart he couldn't see her doing anything that wasn't on the up-and-up.

Going back to experimenting with room temperature superconductors just seemed rather dull in comparison. He knew it was important, that he had resources plenty of others doing his work would kill for, but it just felt very mundane.

One day, he was absolutely miserable, slumped over his desk in defeat, when the fast and furious sound of heels clicked their way down the hall towards the lab. He didn't have the effort to stir from his misery, and figured Erika would simply leave when she didn't see Dr. Young or Mr. Foss.

Instead, he heard the pair of heels stride just up to the threshold of the lab and then stop. There was a momentary pause, followed by a knock on the open door and an unfamiliar female voice that just said, "Nikola? May I…. may I come in?"

Wait, what?

He sat up quickly, and realized that his back had been to the door. With his own lab coat on and his head down, this mysterious woman must have assumed he was Dr. Young. However, he'd never heard anyone refer to Dr. Young by his first name, except for Mr. Foss and Erika.

He spun around in his chair to face the woman, who he saw had loose, blonde wavy hair and was wearing a severe black pantsuit and green blouse. He noticed she seemed to be clutching something in her left hand at her side, the right one still resting against the door.

"Um, no, sorry, Dr. Young isn't here. I think he's in a meeting for a while. Can I help?"

Her eyes went wide. She clearly hadn't been expecting him to be here.

"Oh, ah, no, I need to speak to Doctor…. Um…."

"Dr. Young?"

"Yes, yes, Dr… Young." She smiled slightly for some reason. Who was this woman? How could she know the doc well enough to refer to him by his first name, but not know his last?

"Well, I'm Stefan, his assistant. You can wait over there if you like." He gestured towards the one corner of the room where there were several comfy chairs and a sofa. He had been surprised when Dr. Young had liked his suggestion to add them to the room, and they both had taken to relaxing on them when reading through mounds of scientific papers and reports.

The woman nodded and moved to sit down in one of the chairs, conspicuously not mentioning her name. She continued to stare around the lab and down to whatever was clutched in her hand, but made no effort to say anything more. Stefan quickly returned to his work – that is, he returned to sulking over his latest failure.

He was about to sink to pilfering from the office wine stores for consolation (Dr. Young must be rubbing off on him) when he heard the sound of another set of footsteps coming towards the lab.

This time there was no mistaking who it was when the third person's eyes noticed the extra body in the lab.

"Get out." Dr. Young half shouted, half growled this at the woman, who had sprung to her feet.

"Wait, Nikola, please hear me-"

"Get out!" His voice rose slightly, now it was three-quarters of a shout.

"No. Erika invited me to stay for the whole week and I plan to do just that." Stefan had to give props to the mysterious disturber of the peace. Despite her timid stature, her voice was firm, and matched his in dynamic, if not emotion.

"Fine. That doesn't mean you're welcome here, in MY LAB. Get OUT!"

"Nikola!"

They had both obviously forgotten Stefan was there, and he was in no rush to move and draw their attention to him. He merely sat quietly and observed.

"I don't care what inspired you to come here, or how sorry you are, or how much you'd like to 'just talk.' I don't want to hear it. Get out."

"Please, just read this, he just wants to –" At this she held out the item she was holding, which appeared to be an envelope, but with nothing written on it.

"Really? 'He just wants to' - what? Apologize? Admit he was wrong? Mend fences or bridges or whatever? Does he actually mean any of it?"

Her hand pulled back, still clutching the letter Dr. Young had made no effort to take. She didn't respond, so he asked again. "Well? Does he?"

"Nikola, please, he's trying. It's something. He feels bad about it, really. Even he and Henry are still not back to normal but they're better, and if you'd just talk to him-"

"I have nothing to say to Zimmerman. If he wants to talk, he can come here and I can have the distinct pleasure of throwing him out myself."

There was silence for a few more moments, and then the woman sighed and lowered her eyes, admitting defeat. Dr. Young strode towards his lab bench and sat down, not acknowledging her as she began to walk towards the door.

Before she was halfway across the lab, a third set of footsteps thundered out down the hallway. A boy ran into the lab, panting as he stopped a few steps in front of the woman.

"There you are Aunt Abby! Mum's been wondering where you were, she took my DS and made me go check everywhere!"

The woman laughed at this, and gave the boy a one-armed hug as she turned him around. They walked out of the lab, neither glancing back at Stefan or the very disgruntled Dr. Young. "I'm sorry, I guess I did sneak away when she wasn't looking. Well then, Alistair, let's go get back your game from your mean old mom!"

There was silence in the lab as their footsteps faded out down the hallway.

A few seconds after they were gone completely, Stefan saw Dr. Young stand up abruptly, and, in one fluid motion, pick up the nearest empty wine glass and throw it against the wall. It shattered, glass shards flying everywhere, but neither Dr. Young nor Stefan flinched.

Dr. Young said nothing, but simply sat down and went back to work.

Stefan quietly stood up and went to get a broom and dustpan from the supply closet down the hallway.

* * *

**A few more vignettes before we jump into the meat of the story... With a few teasers! **

**Edit: Baby Foss is named after Ashley and Ashelia from Final Fantasy XII, I couldn't resist.**

**Thanks for the reviews so far, they make my day! Special shout out to Saphyr88 for calling me out as a total Yankee.**


	4. CH 4 - You Give Love a Bad Name

Chapter 4: You Give Love a Bad Name

Something was going on at Sanctuary Labs.

None of the Zeds had any idea exactly what it was, but in the last few weeks there had been this escalating sense of tension that even they couldn't miss. There were more upper level meetings, which lasted longer, and left all their supervisors in a strange mood.

Resources were tighter, and they had to get advance permission for more and more pieces of lab equipment.

No one had been hired in the last two months, which some of the older hires pointed out was not incredibly unusual, except that no one had been sent to scout any of the big job fairs either.

Individual projects were slowed if not stopped completely, and all the labs had been "encouraged" to adopt a regular schedule that included a closing time.

For the most part, Stefan was unaffected. Dr. Young seemed unfazed, and not even Mr. Foss could make him change how he worked. It hadn't hit home until the Zeds monthly Friday night meeting, after the second slice of pizza.

Andrew was sitting towards the front of the room, and when the conversation lulled, he cleared his throat once.

"Hey, so, guys, I've got something to say."

They all went silent. His face was serious and his eyes were fixated on the beer in his hand.

"I just found out…I'm being transferred."

No one said anything. Everyone knew the London site was the only location with labs; there were a few smaller places in other major cities but they were for the business side of the company. The only work you'd be able to do would be data processing and writing – no new experiments, no new designs, nothing.

For a scientist, being transferred was equivalent to being put on extreme probation, if not a direct two weeks notice.

Stefan eventually broke the ice. "Andy…what happened?"

"I dunno, Stefan. I mean, my work hasn't exactly been jumping forward leaps and bounds but Dr. K never said anything to me about it."

Jenny jumped in, "But then why? You've been here for ages!"

"Yeah, you'd think they'd give me a heads up. Mr. Foss just called me into the office today, confiscated my work laptop too. He told me they'll transfer all the data to my new one, but…"

"Jeez, that's not cool, you don't just take someone's tech like that!" Jenny was getting riled up, and Stefan was close behind her.

"I mean, technically that's in the contract, right?" Andy was trying to sound calm and collected, but was still looking at the empty bottle in his hand. "Their computer, their research data."

Stefan passed a hand through his hair, trying to make sense of it all.

"When do you…? Where?"

"New York, on Monday."

* * *

After Andrew left, Stefan felt more and more at odds with the other Zeds. No one was in a good mood, and the fact that Stefan didn't have it as bad as everyone else was quickly becoming a sore point. Everyone missed Andy, but he hadn't been in touch too much since the move. The few times Stefan had called him had been awkward.

Stefan began spending more and more time in the lab. Soon, it was almost all he did. Wake up, eat breakfast, work, eat, work, eat, then home for maybe a run and a shower before bed.

The only distraction was Jenny, who maintained an upbeat attitude somehow despite everything that happened. Somehow, she still managed to whisk him away to lunch every now and then.

Sometimes she popped by the lab, though Dr. Young usually shooed her out; he called her "distractingly flighty". Jenny informed Stefan that before he'd been hired, she'd poked her head in the lab to meet Dr. Young. He'd told her to wait and not disturb him, and she'd started looking at things scattered around his lab bench. One had been an overly sensitive alarm system that she'd set off by picking it up, and, well…. She had been asked to not return without "proper adult supervision."

As she finished the story, she giggled, "And now I've got you, Stef!" and patted him on the arm. As much as he hated the nickname, he couldn't help but smile. Her easy-going attitude was infectious, even when he was in such a dark mood.

* * *

Two months after Andrew had been transferred, the atmosphere at work was even worse. The Zeds barely hung out any more; Andrew had been the glue to hold them together. Stefan barely spoke to anyone besides Jenny and Dr. Young, who had become increasingly distant. Mr. Foss was no longer popping into the lab; Dr. Young's phone (which Stefan didn't even know he had) would ping, and the man would just get up and walk out of the room without looking at it.

Erika didn't stop by to chat anymore; her emails were curt and to the point, always exactly about one of their projects and nothing more. He didn't see the Foss children around the labs as often, and Dr. Young had no more visitors.

One day, Stefan was in the middle of sorting through the plans for a new communications system that Dr. Young had drawn up, when the man stood up suddenly, eyes fixed on his phone.

"Stefan, I've got a meeting to go to. Why don't you… go get lunch. Actually, just take the day off, my treat. Don't worry, I'll lock up."

Stefan almost refused, but the suggestion was so unlike him; he heard the subtext. _You're not to be in the lab alone._ What was this, his first month on the job? How had he lost lab privileges?

He slammed his laptop shut and thought about taking it with him, but his head was spinning and his heart was sinking into his stomach. He just grabbed his bag and walked out, not making eye contact.

What had he done wrong?! His work had been great, he'd not even walked within 10 feet of the do-not-open door, and he hadn't broken anything in the lab. Was he going to get transferred too?

None of it made sense, and as he walked, he felt worse and worse. His brain was fuzzy and his feet weren't going straight. He needed a reason, an explanation, anything. He pulled out his phone and called the only number that he knew would get an answer.

It took one ring and Jenny was on the phone. "Hey, Stef, what's up?"

"Jenny, I… Are you free? For lunch?"

"Stef, what's wrong, you don't sound ok."

"I…I think I'm in trouble with Dr. Young. I dunno, Jen, he left for a meeting and told me to go home for the day. I, I… I don't know what that means. I think it's like Andy-" He began to ramble, not really sure what he was saying. He couldn't process what was going on.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, calm down. Maybe he just wanted to be nice. Give you the day off."

"No, Jen, he's not like that. Geez, Jen, I...I don't know what I DID! What did I do wrong?!" At that, his voice began to crack. He liked this job, really liked it, and right now it was all he had. "I just grabbed my bag and walked out, I need to get out of here. Get some air. I just…can we talk? Please?"

"Yeah, yeah, course. Hey, let's get lunch at that café around the corner, ok? I'll be right there."

"Ok, ok."

"It'll be alright Stefan, I promise."

* * *

This was the crappiest day ever; it had to be. He'd walked all the way out of the lab, and made it halfway to the café when he realized that his wallet was not in his bag. Of all the days, today was the one time he's taken it out when he'd been rummaging through it earlier looking for his pen.

He thought about texting Jenny that he had to go back, but she was probably still tying up her work anyways. He jogged back down the block, and headed up to the lab, praying that Dr. Young hadn't actually locked up yet. Part of him was more scared of the prospect that Dr. Young might still be there.

When he got there, the door was closed. His heart sank, but to be sure, he tried the handle. To his surprise, it turned, but the door stuck as he tried to push it open. He gave it a good shove, and the door swung open.

Who had left the door that way?

He walked into the lab, and spotted one person, sitting at his lab bench. He barely noticed that the door swung shut as soon as he let it go.

"Jenny. What are you doing here?"

* * *

Jenny met his eyes with a bright smile.

"Stefan! There you are, I've been waiting!"

She'd been what? "You said to meet at the café… I just came back because I forgot my wallet."

"No, silly, I said we'd get lunch, of course we'd meet here, duh."

"I told you I left. That I didn't want to be here."

"Aw, Stefan, I know it's been a tough day, it's ok." She stood up and walked over to him. When she reached him she hugged him tightly, but he couldn't move his arms to hug her back. Still holding onto his shoulders, she leaned back and looked at him. "It'll be ok, you're just not thinking straight."

"No, I… Wait, how'd you get in?"

"The door was open."

"Dr. Young was going to lock up the lab."

"He must've forgot."

Dr. Young was absent-minded, but he didn't forget something that was clearly important enough to send Stefan home over.

"Jen, what is going-"

"Let's open the door!"

"What?!"

"That'll make you feel better! If you're so sure you're in trouble, just open it anyways! Don't you want to know?" Her smile had a small bit of desperation in it.

"Wait, whoa, Jenny. What's gotten in to you? Jenny, seriously, what are you doing in here?"

"I was waiting for you!"

"No, Jenny, really, why-"

She kissed him.

It was not a chaste kiss, but a full-on bruising kiss that nearly knocked him over. One of her hands came up to clutch the back of his neck, while she ran the fingers of her other hand through his hair, and she pressed her chest into his torso. His hands finally moved, as he grabbed her sides and gently pushed her back.

"Jenny, I don't –"

"I know, coworkers and everything, but I just really, really like you and you've been so sad since Andy left, and, well –" Her voice trailed off, her eyes pleading, looking at his face for a response. She stepped towards him, but he stepped back.

"Stefan, come on, you've been so nice to me, I thought that you…"

He should've realized she hadn't noticed. Had he led her on? He didn't think so. He really didn't, but he couldn't dodge the issue now.

"Jenny, look you're really nice and a great friend, but I'm gay."

"You're-"

She went quiet, and she lowered her head so she was looking at the floor, awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot. He didn't know what to say, so he walked away, his feet randomly moving him to his lab bench where she had been waiting.

The lab bench where she had been waiting for him… where his laptop now had an unfamiliar device plugged into the USB port. The only person who could've done that was Dr. Young or…

* * *

"Jenny, what were you doing with my laptop?"

He heard a click, but no response, so he turned around to look at her.

Her posture had changed entirely. She was standing upright; her smile gone, lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes had none of their sparkle, but were glaring daggers into his.

And in her right hand, pointed directly at him, was a gun.

"You should have just waited at the damn café' Stefan."

* * *

"Jenny, what the hell?!"

Jenny just sighed, looking at him like he was a slow child who had asked for help tying his shoe.

"Not your day, is it? Move."

She gestured quickly with the gun, and he obeyed, shuffling towards the back of the lab. He opened his mouth, but she quickly cut him off.

"Ah, ah, ah, no talking. Back against the wall."

He obeyed, stepping backwards slowly, till he felt the wall behind him.

Why was she doing this?

Hell, what exactly was she doing?

"Now, Stefan, I'm ready to clear out of here and just leave you with a nice lump on your head but I've still got a question I need an answer to. One you should answer quietly. Do you know what's behind that door?"

"No." He didn't, he really didn't. Would she believe him? Did she know how to shoot? It looked like she did. Had she shot people before?

"Well then, lucky you, we're going to find out. Open it."

"No."

He didn't even think before answering. Hell, he couldn't form a coherent thought right now if his life... which it seemed it did. Jenny was obviously not pleased with this response.

"Stefan, I know how to use this gun. This lab is soundproofed; you and I both know your crazy boss made sure of that. I'm promising you a small concussion and plausible deniability."

"No."

He hadn't actually known it was soundproof, though that explained why no one had investigated the day Dr. Young had decided to test their new type of cherry bombs.

"Stefan." Her voice grew angrier, not pleased at his continuing non-compliance.

A very small part of Stefan was hoping that maybe, just maybe there was a chance he'd still keep his job when this was all over, if he survived Jenny and then Dr. Young. He didn't know what was behind that door, but Dr. Young had always known he hadn't opened it. Whatever it was, it was important, and even if Jenny meant her promise to simply knock him out afterwards (which he doubted) he could feel in his gut that he couldn't let her get through that door.

She grew impatient. "Move out of the way then."

Instead, he stepped in front of the door. There was no logic to it, no thought, just impulse. "NO."

"MOVE, **NOW**."

"NO!"

He heard a cracking noise, and it was only after he fell to the ground that he realized it must've been the gun. There was a momentary pain somewhere in his chest, but he couldn't determine where. It was only when he felt thin, lukewarm liquid rolling down his arm that he realized what had happened.

She had shot him, and now he was lying on his side, bleeding out.

She walked up to him, and though he struggled, the pain was overwhelming and he couldn't get his bearings. She bent down to look at his wound and then shoved him out the way.

He rolled on his back, causing another burst of pain, but he kept his eyes focused on her, standing in front of the door.

"No…" He barely gasped it out.

She pained him no attention, instead staring at the door intently. "Now, what does Tesla keep behind here?"

_Tesla?_

Her hand turned the doorknob easily, it was not locked, and she pushed the door open and stepped in. Stefan could not see anything past her except a dark colored wall, and she paused slightly before walking in.

"What on earth? What the hell is this?"

She had barely finished her sentence before she was surrounded on all sides by a glowing blue light. She started shouting, but Stefan couldn't hear her. Was it shock from the gunshot? Was he deaf now?

Was he dying?

As she reached out a hand, the light jumped down her arm, and he saw her scream silently. He watched her fire her gun at the blue light, but nothing seemed to happen. She began slammed her gun against the blue wall, attempting to break it, but when that proved hopeless she threw it behind her with a huff.

His eyes began to drift closed more and more frequently, but he tried hard to stay conscious, to hang on. Whether it was desperation, heroism, or curiosity, he didn't really know.

Eventually, he heard the door to the lab open. The moment it did, he saw the blue light envelope Jenny and she collapsed to the ground, her screams now very audible and piercing. They were shrill and high; with all that had happened today, he couldn't process whether her screams made him happy or sad, only that he could not block them out. Instead of fighting to keep his eyes open, he slammed them shut, but he could still imagine what was happening. He could almost see Jenny, collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony, in too much pain to even form coherent words.

He tried to move but couldn't. He heard loud foot steps and vaguely familiar voices shouting. He felt himself poked and prodded, and then lifted and carried, not in the direction of the infirmary, but over the threshold of the door.

He could barely hang onto consciousness, but there was one thought left in his mind. He kept his eyes closed, focusing on this one taks with his last bits of energy as he slipped into unconsciousness.

After all, he wasn't supposed to know what was behind the door, and he really liked this job…


	5. CH 5 - Awakening

Chapter 5 – Awakening

When Stefan came to, he was lying down on something soft (_a couch?_) with a pillow under his head, and a gentle pressure against his chest. He attempted to sit up, but a hand on his shoulder pushed him back down.

"Nope. Not happening Stefan. Lie back down." He was still trying to take in his surroundings and his mind was going a mile a minute, but he recognized the voice as Erika's. She seemed almost… _chipper?_

"What happened?" It felt like a rather pathetic question, but he couldn't think of anything else to ask. 'What time is it', 'Am I fired', and 'Why aren't you nice to me anymore' seemed a bit facetious.

"Well, you know better than me, I just patched you up afterwards. Have no fear, you'll live, and with just enough of a scar to impress your friends, thanks to my excellent skills." Was she smiling? "It'd been a while since we had a real medical emergency here, it's nice to know I'm not losing my touch." She really was in a good mood, giddy even. _What kind of doctor was cheerful about patching up a gunshot wound?_

That thought made a whole mountain of others rush back into his head all at once. Erika had patched up _his_ gunshot wound, one he got all because he forgot his damn wallet. He tried to turn his head, but couldn't. The last thing he could remember was hearing people come in and hearing Jenny's screams… He had to know.

"What about Jenny? …Is she…"

'Is she' – what was he hoping her status was: alive, in custody, safe, innocent even…. Dead? If she was… was he sad? Yes, she'd shot him, but before today she had been his closest, no, his only friend here.

But had she really been his closest friend? Had she really seen him as a friend, as a crush even? Or was she planning this all long? Had she befriended him from the moment he arrived just so that she could use him?

When she'd answer her phone, had she really cared about how upset he was? Or did she just hear him say that his office was empty and unguarded?

…

When she'd shot him, had she hit her mark? Or did she miss and then not bothered to finish him off? If she had, was it because of remorse or because she didn't even consider him a threat with a bullet in him?

He'd almost forgotten he had asked the original question out loud, but then he heard Erika sigh and felt her hand leave his shoulder. She walked around the couch so that she was now in his eye line, as put together as always with an immaculate lab coat with not a spec of his blood on it. Her lips were pursed, but her eyes met his with a sad, sympathetic gaze.

"Stefan, she's alive… but you'll probably never see her again. It turns out she's been responsible for quite a lot of damage to the company, beyond just your injury and breaking in to Nikola's lab."

"Oh… So... Is that why everything's been so weird lately? Was it because of her?"

Another sigh, and Erika paused again before answering, clearly thinking through how much to let him know. "Jenny was involved in… some rather severe corporate espionage with one of our... competitors. It appears she has been using her access to our computer systems to hide her tracks by shifting suspicion to other employees."

Other employees?

"Like Andy?"

"Pardon?"

"Andy, Andrew Triton. He's a biomed engineer, he got transferred to New York two months ago."

Erika broke eye contact with him, clearly trying to hide the fact that she had no idea who he was talking about. Was it that easy to forget someone once you've written them off? Had he been well on his way to being nothing beyond 'that boy that worked with Nikola for a few months'? She still attempted to reply, despite her obvious lack of knowledge. "Oh, um, I'm afraid I don't know. It's rather unclear right now… You've only been out for a few hours."

She quickly fell silent, and he couldn't bring himself to ask more questions. The answers she would have couldn't possibly make him feel any better at this point. If Jenny had been behind Andrew getting transferred, maybe she really had been planning it all along. Stefan had just been her next patsy, that's why she'd spent so much time with him. That's why she stopped by the lab so much, why she was so happy Dr. Young let her visit him. It had nothing to do with him, just his work.

His heart was sinking faster and faster by the second, and Erika seemed to notice because she suddenly kneeled by the couch, near his head. She patted his shoulder, then squeezed it slightly and pulled away. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pinch, then a numbing feeling in his arm. Soon it spread over his whole body, and he relaxed into the feeling, letting it pull him away from the dark thoughts that swirled in his head.

* * *

When he woke up, Erika was gone, but he heard two other recognizable voices bickering quietly nearby.

"I told you I didn't like that girl." That was Dr. Young, but his tone was more flippant than the tone he normally used in the lab.

"You didn't think she was a spy, you thought she was an empty headed flirt and you were mad that she broke your latest toy." Was that Mr. Foss? They were talking about Jenny - they had to be. Stefan tried to fight away the last bits of fatigue and sedatives in his system so he could focus on their conversation.

"She tried to seduce me, to get access to my lab. You should've fired her then. You know, sexual harassment and all that."

"Really. You're saying that if someone hits on someone else in their workplace, I should fire them on the spot? Cause I used that excuse years ago when you first showed up on our doorstep." That last bit was odd; he'd never seen Dr. Young flirt with anyone at work. Heck, he rarely saw the man interact with anyone, ever.

"Well, no, not in general, but she was suspicious!"

"Oh, so I should only fire anyone crazy enough to hit on you? Because the only people who do that must have ulterior motives?"

Dr. Young started sputtering, clearly flustered from realizing too late that he had dug himself into a bit of a logical hole.

"Whatever, Foss, let's not argue about just how much of this was totally avoidable if you'd been doing your job properly. The boy's awake."

_Huh?_ How had he known? Stefan had barely stirred from his spot on what he quickly realized was the same couch as before.

He heard footsteps, and then both men came into view, stopping a few steps from the couch, almost shoulder to shoulder.

Mr. Foss was the first to break the ice. "How are you feeling? Erika patched you up pretty fast after we found you."

Stefan tried to sit up, but he lost momentum halfway up and collapsed back down onto the sofa. Though the couch was quite soft, the impact was too much and he felt a burst of pain that clearly showed on his face. Henry took a step closer, obviously unsure of how to help, and settled on stating the obvious. "Ah, it still hurts."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock, I _did_ just get shot." It came out before he had time to remember that he was addressing his boss and his boss' boss, but he couldn't help but feel not wholly culpable; Mr. Foss did not exactly have his wife's calming bedside manner. Stefan hadn't meant to be rude, but the reality of everything that had happened in the last day was starting to hit home again. This time instead of sending him into a quiet downward spiral, it was stirring him up. He'd never been severely injured before… perhaps his high pain defense mechanism was snark? He was so fixated by the reason behind his outburst that he barely noticed the somewhat bemused look that passed between the two other men.

To be honest, he was surprised he wasn't more angry. Jenny had been stealing company information and setting up Andy and him (and who knows who else) to take the fall. Erika, Mr. Foss, and Dr. Young had all fell for it, had been ready to kick him to the curb without giving him a chance to defend himself. He had caught Jenny because of pure dumb (bad) luck, and she had shot him for his troubles. And now…?

Stefan realized his focus had wandered again, and steered it back to the two men in front of him.

Dr. Young didn't seem too concerned with his outburst, and was not even looking in his direction, absently staring at another part of the room. Mr. Foss had an apologetic look on his face, and one hand fiddled with the band of the watch on his other wrist. He seemed unsure of what to say, but determined to say something.

"I gotta admit, I'm surprised you didn't just open the door for her." Mr. Foss said, surprising Stefan by slipping into a much more casual tone and getting straight to the point. How had he known about that? The question must have shown on his face, because Mr. Foss then just said "Security cameras showed us what happened." Stefan hadn't even known there were security cameras in the lab...

The door, that stupid door… why _had_ he refused to open it? He hadn't felt particularly heroic or loyal. In fact, he'd just felt really depressed and contrary. He hadn't said anything when Andy left, and he'd just walked out when Dr. Young kicked him out of the lab, but by gosh he could stand up to a tiny Irish girl with a firearm. She'd still taken him down in a second. Mr. Foss was right; he should've just opened the door. So why hadn't he? The only thing he could think of was the mantra that had been playing in his head since he got here.

"Dr. Young said don't open the door. I wasn't going to open the door. I like this job," Stefan replied, the last part almost an afterthought. Mr. Foss gave him a funny look, but seemed to write off his simplistic answer as the product of the drugs that were probably still pumping through his veins. Stefan hesitated, but added an addendum; "I didn't exactly have a plan for getting held at gunpoint by a coworker. Zombie apocalypse, sure, but not that. "

At this, Dr. Young finally jumped in. "See Heinreich, we aren't properly training the new kids. Though perhaps we should not work on their aim, for poor Stefan's sake."

"Um, hey, I might still be a bit drugged, but I'm not so out of it to notice that neither of you seemed too shaken up over the fact I got shot."

Now Dr. Young was almost smiling. "Workplace hazard, I'm afraid. Don't get too upset about it. Your not the first person to be shot by their coworkers – Henry here has put more than a few rounds in me."

"Wait, WHAT?!" At that, he managed to get enough energy to pull himself up to a sitting position.

Mr. Foss jumped in, also smiling now too, but not in a "ha ha, he's just kidding" kind of way. "It's a long story, but he deserved it and they were tranqs. Mostly. Anyways, this mess is over and you'll be fine, Erika said there will barely be a scar."

"Besides," Dr. Young added with a smirk, "I find it hurts less to get shot by a pretty girl."

At that Stefan simple rolled his eyes, sunk back into the couch, and muttered, "Well, since her one step plan without the gun was seducing me, which was never going to work, I suppose I got shot _because_ she was a pretty girl."

There was a slight pause, and then Dr. Young let out a chuckle when he saw Mr. Foss' eyes go wide.

"Oh dear, Heinrich, I did try to warn you she was a bit of menace. I'm afraid you might need to redesign your background check system, perhaps you should focus a bit more on the codes that weed out the potential gun-wielding, scientist seducing, SCIU moles."

SCIU… The way he said it sounded like a proper noun, they must be the "bad guys" who hired Jenny. But Jenny had already been working in the security department; she'd had access to all the data servers and interoffice communications. Why had she been so curious about his lab room when she had all of that? Why break in when she could just sit at her own desk, and… wait.

His brain was jump-started past the fog of the painkillers, and he realized he was missing one very big detail. He was on a couch, in a room he didn't recognize, and the last thing he remembered was being carried… _Holy crap._

Stefan sat up completely straight, swinging his legs over the side of the couch, drawing the attention of the two men who had started bickering about search algorithms.

"I'm… where am I?" Stefan craned his head around the relatively empty room. There was the couch he was on, a coffee table that had been pushed against one wall (_maybe when they brought him in?_), and another wall had a small bar built in. Otherwise the room was empty, all dark wood and solid colors; the only other features were several doors, most of which were closed. However, he could see the lab out through an open door. No, not just a door, THE door, it had to be! This is what Jenny had seen before she... Before whatever had happened to her, happened. But as far as he could tell, it was just a normal space, almost like….

Dr. Young answered, voice as calm as ever. "Ah, yes, the burning question. You are in my rooms."

...

_WHAT?!_

* * *

"Come again?" Stefan really hopped he'd misheard that. He really, really hoped he had because if he hadn't...

"Yes, Dr. Miller, my rooms. You yourself have pointed out previously that I practically live in the lab. Well, I do."

"Ha ha, very funny, it sounds like you just said I got shot because I wouldn't open the booby trapped entrance to your bedroom." He paused, waiting for Dr. Young to fess up to the truth. When he didn't, that impulsive energy started to build in him again. "What the hell man! I got shot cause, what, you don't want people to rummage through your closet?!"

"Calm down, boy, it was just one gunshot, not even life threatening."

"Jenny got, got…. Zapped! Fried! I dunno, eaten! Whatever the hell that was!"

"True, but she rather deserved it, yes?" Dr. Young was still grinning, so casual about the whole affair. Stefan was getting more and more pissed by the second.

"I could have, hell, _should_ have chosen to open it for her! She had a gun on me, and I would've been the one screaming my guts out, all so she could waltz in and find nothing but some furniture and a bunch of suits!" Stefan was starting to lose it. He had gotten shot, and not only were his bosses acting like it was nothing, it seemed it _had_ actually been over nothing. "I mean, why even make a mystery of the door anyways? Just tell people not to go in cause it's your room! Holy hell, I got shot protecting your pajamas and precious vests from mild ruffling!"

His voice grew louder and louder as he spoke, quickly becoming a hoarse shout. He began to struggle to stand up, but his legs wouldn't take the weight.

"I got shot, I GOT SHOT. That was NOT in the job description. Lab monkey, yes, bulletproof vest for your things NO! This is NOT OK!"

Dr. Young's face stayed the same, still with that obnoxious grin, that stupid exasperating smirk. Mr. Foss on the other hand seemed to finally cave, sympathetic to his distress.

"Stefan, calm down and please stay seated or you'll tear your stitches, and then Erika will be mad at me. And Nikola, come on, the guy deserves a better explanation. He took a shot to keep Jenny away from here, and that might not mean much to you or me, but it means a hell of a lot to him. And you know if your trap hadn't worked -" At this Dr. Young rolled his eyes, clearly due to his skepticism of such a thing ever happening, "- _if it hadn't worked_ you and I would not be taking this incident so lightly. He's shown he's trustworthy, he's done good work - he deserves to know."

For the first time since the whole discussion began, Stefan saw the light-hearted attitude fade from Dr. Young's face. It wasn't just about his rooms. There was something here, something worth hiding, something they both considered worth the extreme measures.

Dr. Young sighed. "Alright, Heinrich, alright. I suppose at this point we can at least be sure he's not a mole as well."

"You really thought I might be-"

"Course we did. Anyone with your talents who ditches all their other offers to come here is either crazy or being paid by our enemies to do so."

Stefan decided to take this as a compliment, and not to push the issue, not when he was so close to answers. Sure, he hadn't ever considered opening the door he wasn't supposed to open – that didn't mean he'd never wondered what secrets were inside. He wasn't going to waste this chance to find out.

Dr. Young was relatively silent after requesting that Mr. Foss fetch a wheelchair, which Stefan was then loaded into. At this point, Mr. Foss excused himself without an explanation, but Stefan, who was still watching Dr. Young's now pensive exterior, thought he saw some sort of look of gratitude pass between them.

Dr. Young then wheeled him away from the couch, towards one of the other rooms. He pushed the door open gently, revealing a large, lush bedroom, all dark wood again, and full of old-fashioned furniture. One wall was almost entirely taken up with large glass plane windows, the fading sunlight they let in casting an amazing soft glow over all the immaculately polished wood. In fact, the whole place was sparkling clean; the sheets folded just so, pictures arranged of people and places in just the most pleasing and ordered manner. There were full bookshelves and tables with fresh bouquets of flowers that Stefan had never seen carried in through the lab. Throughout the entire room was the echo of a string quartet, whose source was revealed when Dr. Young used a remote by the door to pause the sound system.

After this Dr. Young hesitated briefly, but then wheeled Stefan over to the centerpiece of the room, a large four-post bed with dark green blankets and a gold trim.

As they came closer, Stefan began to realize that there was someone amiss in this perfect room. As they arrived at the bedside, Stefan saw small, hidden monitors, the kind he saw on medical dramas on TV, and he saw the wires that subtly connected them to a figure lying in the bed.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to not turn his head, to keep looking at the monitors and the flowers and the books. Yet bringing him here was clearly significant and he could not let himself miss this chance to finally understand his employers.

He turned his head to the bed and his eyes fell upon a woman. She was older, maybe in her 40s or 50s, judging by her face, and she was very pale and thin. She did not look sickly though; there was a slight red to cheeks and her breathing was even. Her hair seemed to be a mix of brown and yellow, like she hadn't quite decided which color she preferred.

She was postured as though she had simply fallen asleep while reading in bed, propped against the pillows with the blankets fallen around her waist. One hand rested on her stomach while the other lay at her side, both arms punctured with several nearly invisible IVs. Her head rested against one of her pillows, eyes closed, and she had a slight smile, adding to the illusion that she might simply be in the middle of a pleasant dream. Her hair was lightly braided and wrapped around the top of her head so that it wouldn't be uncomfortable to lie on. Stefan recognized the style; Erika Foss often wore her hair the same way.

They were both silent for some time, but then Dr. Young spoke.

"Henry was right, Stefan. I am grateful for the… intent behind what you did. Had Jenny somehow made it this far and told her employers of this, they and every other enemy of ours would've stopped at nothing to seize this facility, through whatever means possible, even extreme violence."

"But, why?" Stefan asked softly, "Who is she? What… What's wrong with her?"

"Her name is Dr. Helen Magnus, and she… She is a brilliant scientist and doctor, the best this world has ever seen. She has done more good for the world than it ever deserved or will ever know. She established and ran the Sanctuary Network, what we called this… company went it had facilities all over the globe. She was Henry's foster mother and my… my oldest and dearest friend."

"As for what is wrong with her… I don't know, but I have been trying to solve that mystery for the last 9 years."

* * *

**Here we are, what I would call the end of "Part 1". This has sort of evolved into a series of classic mysteries - the first being a closed door mystery, the next obviously being a medical mystery, and after that, well,... wait and see!**

**Edit: Chapters 1 - 5 have been slightly tweaked as of 5/17, just minor stuff.**

**I hope everyone likes this turn of events. Stefan isn't actually inducted into the fold yet - next few chapters we'll switch to Nikola's perspective to see what he's willing to tell Stefan about the last 9 years (and what he's not). Props to AnthropologistGirlInTheMaking for catching the change I made to the main character listings! I meant to do Tesla, Henry, and now Helen, but the posting read as Helen/Henry (ick) so I removed Henry's name. And much thanks to Tiem625, Saphyr88, and all the rest of you for your reviews, they are lovely and each one brightens my day immensely!**


	6. CH 6 - Inferno and Paradiso

**A/N: Version 1.1 - Apologies, when I posted this I was so tired I didn't notice a huge part was missing. I'm actually not a huge fan of 100 years of one-sided Teslen, I prefer to think it's something that only crops up after Rome and, since that's the part that's so head cannon for me, I completely forgot to write it down.**

* * *

Chapter 6 – Inferno and Paradiso

_"Go, Nikola."_

_He had been starting to put the pieces together, just in the last few hours, ever since Wolfboy had spilled the beans on Helen's trip through time. Through his (attempted) drunken depression, he'd skipped right past being offended she hadn't told him, and right to figuring out what she did with all that extra time (which was probably the reason she hadn't told him in the first place)._

_The children might have bought that crap about retreating to Nepal for some R&R, but this was Helen Magnus. First, Nepal had poor access to global trade routes, notably, the tea market. Second, there was no way she'd wasted such an amazing opportunity for such a feeble reason as "preserving the timeline." Perhaps she wouldn't be as reckless as him, but even just knowing general future financial, medical, and scientific trends, there was plenty one could get away with under the radar (especially in the pre-Internet age)._

_He'd started combing his own memories for any discrepancies. His eidetic memory had always been a blessing to his work but a curse to his ego; now, it quickly provided him with every time in the last 113 years Helen had seemed... off. There were many, scattered throughout his lifetime, but none provided any clues. They were casual events, occasional meals or short chats, no missions, no adventures, and no secrets. Why?_

_He had wanted to ask her, to make her tell him what was going on, but before he could everything had gone to hell. Those baboons at SCIU had wasted their five collective brain cells on bastardizing his invention into another killing machine. Caleb had come knocking at the door. And now, when it was so obvious that something was going on, when she couldn't pretend otherwise, she'd silenced him the only way possible._

_She grabbed his arm and pulled herself to him, kissing him fiercely, and before he even knew what was happening, he was kissing her back. He wanted very much to grab her back, hold her tight, and deepen the kiss but he knew this wasn't the time. It was never "the time". This was only one more moment of the many that had happened since he contacted her in Rome. He had showed up, expecting her to be exactly as they parted, so sure he could predict exactly what she'd say and do, and he'd never been so happy to be so wrong. Her mind was the same, brilliant as always, but these few decades suited her so much better than any they had lived through together. In the Modern Age, Helen had thrived and flourished. _

_After Rome, he had assumed nothing would change, that he would simply continue with his work. Then she had showed up in Bhalasaam, and brought him back with her, and every time since he had found fewer and fewer reasons to leave. As for the rampant flirting, well, he was a fan of the Modern Age too. Still, there were more and more moments where he found himself dangerously close to sincerity. The were times when she hesitated before answering or he could hear her pulse rise, but one of them would quickly brush the moment aside._

_ Though, he was getting less mixed signals from this particular moment than others._

_All these thoughts were irrelevant seconds later, when she pulled away, pushing back lightly on his chest._

_"Go, quickly!"_

_His body obeyed while his mind was spinning, striding quickly from the lab. Before he closed the door, he turned to look at her once more, and her eyes held an expression he had never seen before. It wasn't grief or desperation or even panic; it was something more, it was determination, surety, but also immense, bottomless sadness. Yet he did as she asked, like he always did, hitting the button to close the door, never allowing his eyes to leave hers. When it was fully closed, he turned and ran to where Henry was, and instead of planning or thinking, he was consumed by a singular thought._

_WHEN they survived this, when this was all over, when she was safe because she would be, because she MUST have a plan… He would... He would stay, if she would let him. He would make a proper go at whatever this was. He would make sure there was never a reason for her look at him that way ever again._

* * *

"She… she doesn't seem sick."

"No, she doesn't."

The room was quiet, very quiet; there was no sounds of the outside world, no hum of electronics or pounding of footsteps. Stefan barely noticed, this woman, this 'Helen Magnus', had him completely entranced. It wasn't attraction or desire, she was certainly not his type, but there was something more elusive that he couldn't put his finger on.

"You said Dr. Helen Magnus... what field?"

"Oh, all of them, really. Primarily though, she is a medical doctor, with a rather unique speciality in treating people with... unusual genetics."

She seemed so peaceful, so serene, yet the more he looked, he could sense the wrongness as well. She seemed almost familiar…

"Have I seen her somewhere before?"

"On television, before the Old City Sanctuary exploded."

Dr. Young's voice held none of the flippancy of his conversations with Mr. Foss nor the biting severity of his argument with their mysterious blonde visitor. He sounded… detached. It didn't fit, not with what he'd just said about how important this woman was, not for someone who had spent so long trying to treat her.

"Dr. Young?"

"Yes, Stefan?"

"May I ask… ?" The question trailed off into the silence. Stefan didn't really know what to ask, where to start. He just wanted to know. "I mean… I'd like to know… If, that is, you want to talk about it…"

Dr. Young seemed to understand.

"Well, if you're in no rush-" Nikola's voice had regained some of it's previous snark, and they both smiled slightly. He pulled Stefan's wheelchair away from the bed and towards a set of chairs near one of the bookshelves. He helped Stefan into one of the chairs and then walked out, returning quickly with an open bottle of wine, a bottle of water, and a wineglass.

"I'm afraid you'll have to stick with water for now, as the recovering, valiant hero."

He tossed Stefan the water bottle, settled into the other chair, and poured himself a very full glass of wine. He took a sip, and let out a deep, content sigh.

"Now, where to start…."

Stefan waited for him to continue, but Dr. Young seemed to actually be having a difficult time deciding where to begin to the story.

"Maybe…the lab accident?"

"Yes, I suppose that will do… Well, it wasn't actually an accident, it was quite deliberate."

Stefan should've been more shocked, but given the last few hours, he didn't find that statement too surprising.

"Why?"

"The whole 5th Ward incident… Helen made many enemies during her life, including the government. She was being pressured into handing over her research, her patients, her life's work, to men who would only use it for the most disturbing ends. She wanted to start over, and ensure that they wouldn't pursue her."

He paused, collecting his thoughts before continuing.

"Henry, Helen, and I were there, just outside the blast range when it happened."

* * *

_The blast had knocked him and Henry to the ground. There was a brief pause when neither of them said a thing. As Nikola stood up, Henry asked, tentatively, "Magnus? Did she…?"_

_"I don't know."_

_"What do you mean you don't know?" _

_Nikola didn't answer, barely shrugging his shoulders. His thoughts were focused on processing everything that had just happened, barely paying any attention to Henry and his grief. There was a__nother pause, and then Henry stood as well, and immediately hurled himself at Nikola, shoving him harshly into the wall of the catacombs. Nikola's head slammed against the stone, sending lights bursting in his eyes and pulling his thoughts away from Helen and back to the man, no, boy in front of him._

_ "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?"_

_"She sent me away."_

_"AND YOU LEFT HER?"_

_"I didn't know she was going to-"_

_"YOU LEFT HER! YOU LEFT HER THERE! YOU BASTARD!" At that Henry punched Nikola in the jaw. Nikola felt the burst of pain and heard the crunch, but he didn't fight back. His mind was back to that room, that moment, calculating the time it would take for Helen to get from the lab to any of the other exits, trying to figure out what her escape plan had been._

_Henry threw two more punches, one breaking Nikola's nose, the other a harsh blow to his stomach, causing him to double over._

_"Foss, she told me –"_

_"I DON'T CARE! You're supposed to be SO DAMN BRILLIANT, why didn't you save her?! Why didn't you…. Save her…. "_

_Henry stepped back, the rage draining as quickly as it had come upon him. He looked at his bloodied hands and then at the ground, avoiding Nikola's gaze._

_"She… this place… It's... It's my home. She's… she's all I have and you just… "_

_"Foss… Henry." At his first name, the boy in question finally looked up. Nikola's body had already healed, though his shirt was now splattered with his blood. His mind had also finally caught on to the one thing he had ignored in his conversation with Helen. Foss's shield had been there, in the lab, when he left._

_"Your shield, Henry, did you get it to work?"_

_"What? Yes, yeah, I did, I think."_

_"Then save your strength, we need to dig through quite a bit of rubble before emergency services show up."_

_"What? You mean…?"_

_Nikola turned to look back on the rubble. In the center of it, where the main lab had been located, he could see the rubble in a small area had been shoved outwards, almost as though there was an air bubble pushing up underneath it. _

_"What do you think Foss? Does that look Helen-sized to you?"_

* * *

_When they made it to her, it took every ounce of control he'd ever mastered as a vampire to resist sweeping her into his arms. He grabbed Henry's shoulder before the boy could run to her; as amusing as it would've been to see him thrown back by his own device, this was not the time._

_It was several moments as Helen fumbled with the device before he heard the hum of the shield fade. He released Henry and strode over to Helen. Henry's shield had protected her from the shock wave and debris of the blast, but it couldn't protect her from the air itself, which had been shock-heated and consumed by the explosion. Her breathing was labored, not just from the pain of several broken libs but the ever-decreasing amount of oxygen, and her face had been scalded by the hot air. _

_She was absolutely beautiful._

* * *

"We… relocated for a while to another facility. I suppose you could say we went "off the grid" but that would be a bit of an understatement."

_Somehow they had gotten themselves to a van, and picked up the injured Bigfoot by the front of the facility, without being noticed by the first responders. SCIU resources were all tied up at the 5__th__ Ward; by the time they sent their own people hours later, they found several scorched remains, including the unidentifiable remains of a human female, approximately in her late 40s. _

_Helen had somehow remained conscious despite her injuries, curled up in Nikola's lap while Henry drove them to the address she gave. He had simply held her, afraid to do anything else. No matter how small a movement he tried to make, anytime he shifted, Helen grimaced, trying not to make a sound as a fresh wave of pain coursed through her whole body._

_He had carried her from the car, to the strange device on the wall of the building they arrived at, into the pod that waited beyond it, and finally, to the infirmary whose code she had him punch into the keypad. It wasn't until he had patched Helen and the Bigfoot up, and both were sleeping, that he looked out the nearest window, and truly saw New Sanctuary for the first time. The scale was enormous, and it spoke to decades of planning and crafting, just like he'd suspected. he wondered if, given all of the time, there might be a room built for him._

* * *

_As the world's oldest doctor, Helen was also the world's worst patient, and had been out of bed in less than a day, eager to show him and Henry the masterpiece she had created._

_The main facility was the Old City Sanctuary on steroids. Several wings of not just rooms, but full apartments, multiple research labs, medical rooms, an expansive kitchen and dining room, and an incredible library that took Nikola's breath away. There were many other buildings as well with their own purposes: specialized habitats, a highly fortified SHU, and more._

_Helen was beginning to show the strain of all the walking, but insisted on showing them one more thing. They entered one of the many pods, which could be used for travel to the surface as well as across New Sanctuary. When Henry asked where to, Helen paused, and looked at Nikola before saying the code._

_"369927"_

_Three. Three times two. Three squared. Three times three. Three cubed. _

_His many historical quirks may have been dramatically played up over his "lifetime", but his fascination with numbers, especially that lovely number 3, was genuine, and she knew it. _

_"Helen?!" Nikola smiled broadly as she held his gaze, not saying a thing, though she began to smile as well. _

_The pod stopped, and they exited out to a grass lawn in front of another building far removed from the main facility. Unlike the others, with their modern, sleek design, the building before them more closely resembled the Old City and London Sanctuaries, though much smaller. Nikola was speechless, as was Henry, and Helen walked to Nikola's side and slipped her hand into his._

_"Nikola… I spent so long building this place, planning… Watching history happen again… Watching your history happen again…" _

_She squeezed his hand slightly, and he responded by rubbing his thumb in small circles on the back of her hand. His career had been varied in its success, a never-ending cycle of patrons who for the most part betrayed and cheated him. Helen had always offered him a place at her Sanctuaries, but they both knew it wasn't right. He often joked that she didn't want to "mix business with pleasure", but the truth was that she ran a tight ship and he preferred his autonomy. He could never simply be one of her employees, and she would never be comfortable just handing over the keys to one of her labs. __That was part of the reason he always left after helping with her most recent adventure, though she never asked him to leave; he had no place in her day to day life._

_"Nikola, this is yours. Always. Regardless of… you and I, of what you choose to do now. It's separate from the rest of the facility; separate network, power grid, everything. No catch, no monitoring, no requirements on your research, it's yours to use whenever you like." She paused for a second, backtracking ever so slightly. "Though if I suspect you are in any way performing unethical experiments upon Abnormals…." _

_Anticipating his next line of thought, she continued, "You are, of course, welcome to stay and work at the main facility as before, but this place will always be here for you, should you need it. It's truly yours, and yours alone, forever, Nikola." _

_"Helen." His voice shook as he said her name, his hand clutching hers tighter. This was so much more than he'd ever expected; he'd hoped for a room with a name on the door and an unlocked wine cellar. She had spent a century building herself a hidden paradise, and it had included this miniature paradise, just for him. He cleared his throat, trying to regain control on his emotions, and shifted his weight slightly, saying with a smirk, "Well then... 'sanctuary for all' indeed."_

_At that she laughed, and turned to face him. He leaned in, his free hand coming up to her cheek, and she turned her face up towards him, their lips meeting in the lightest, sweetest of kisses. _

_She was surprised when he pulled his lips away from hers, still resting his forehead against hers._

_"Helen... I was thinking..." He was mildly surprised at how breathless he sounded, his heart was jumping into his throat like a teenage boy attempting to  
ask out a girl for the first time._

_"A rather dangerous thing." Her accent was divine, he couldn't believe she still had it so many years later. His own had faded over the decades, though if his had ever evoked the same response as her's, perhaps he would've tried harder to keep it. He pulled his head back, and his hand on her cheek drifted down to take her other hand. _

_"Well, considering my recent heroic departure from SCIU..."_

"You were fired for stealing."

"I was practically Robin Hood! Stealing from the undeserving, giving to the under-appreciated."

"Ah, so funding your research is akin to charity is it?"

_Maddening woman, she was getting him off topic. He let out an exasperated sigh, and she laughed, "What is it Nikola? This very dangerous idea of yours?"_

"I thought I might accept your offer and, perhaps..." His heart was racing, and a huge part of him wanted to back down, to make some flippant remark, but he knew he couldn't forget how he'd felt on the surface, before the explosion. He looked down and stared at their entwined hands. "...perhaps I could stick around. For a while."

_He was waiting for her to deliberately misunderstand him, to laugh it off, or to frown and tell him the last few days were just the product of adrenaline, that they were just moments that were now over._

_Instead, she squeezed his hands slightly, and stepped impossibly closer to him. _

___"I'd like that Nikola, very much."_

_He could hear her heart racing, and somehow hearing his nerves echoed in her heartbeat was soothing. He should just leave it here and wait for her to make the next move, but he couldn't resist, he had to see if she really understood what he meant._

_"Helen, I don't suppose... you'd like to get dinner with me sometime?"_

_"Nikola?" He looked up from their hands to see her eyes were screwed up in fake confusion, but she was still smiling._

_"Well, I might not have had an extra 113 years but I've been working on a plan of my own, you know."_

_"Is that so? And it involves dinner with me? I can't imagine how. We've had dinner together many times, and if this has something to do somewhere on the surface, well, I'm afraid I won't be able to go to the surface for the next few weeks at the very least." Sneaky women, she was beginning to smirk, knowing full well what he meant to say, but determined to draw it out of him. He huffed slightly and her smirk grew larger._

_"What I mean is, if the world can stop ending every few days, perhaps we could spend some time together... Alone…"_

_He was sure she was going to draw this out further, make him squirm trying to express his intentions without the use of dreadful clichés or horrid colloquialisms. Instead, she simply said, "I think... that sounds like one of your more brilliant plans__," and leaned in to kiss him, this time deepening the kiss. His head was swimming and he couldn't control the smile threatening to overtake his face. He felt her hands leave his and as they came up to rest on his neck and shoulders, his hands went to her waist, holding her against him. _

_Henry knew they'd completely forgotten he was there, and returned to the pod, happy to give them their privacy, and eager to stake a claim in lab space before Tesla realized they'd have to share…_

* * *

"Helen brought in several of her other colleagues as well, including her protege, and Henry's best friend, William. The new facility was fully functional within a a few weeks, and everything was going... well, very well."

_The shutdown Sanctuaries had been shifted underground and the most trusted of their employees invited to join the staff. The centralized facility and substantial increase in staff meant that while Helen still worked night and day, she was also learning to delegate some of her less important responsibilities To his immense surprise and delight, she chose to spend much of her new free time with him, though she often had to pull him away from his own new projects. Helen missed the surface, but they were already developing fake identities and facial detection software countermeasures that would ensure her cover wasn't blown with a trip to the Met._

"Her symptoms probably started then, but we didn't notice at all. It was several months before we realized that something was wrong..."

* * *

**Ahhh, so, hi everyone! CH 1-5 are updated. Sorry it took so long, inspiration usually strikes when work is going badly. It's going well for once, which is great for my real life, less so for this! Also, fun fact, I just realized that my office is #207 = 3 * 69 = 3 * 3 * 23, woo! (If you don't get why this is awesome, look up the real Nikola Tesla and some of his famous "quirks")**

**Nikola's flashbacks are completely written in my head, but gosh they just get longer and longer as I type them. Sorry for the sneaky cutoff but it's the best place. It looks like 2 more chapters like this before we get back to Stefan, I hope you like them!**


	7. CH 7 - Strangers in Paradise

**This is not a happy chapter, nor is it a short one. You have been warned.**

**A/N: Version 1.1, made some Helen/Nikola dialogue edits**

* * *

Chapter 7 – Strangers in Paradise

"The thing you need to understand Stefan, and I don't mean this with any amount of hyperbole, is that Helen is, and always has been, far healthier than the average human. You could say abnormally so."

"This would have something to do with the 'unusual genetics' she studies?"

"Indeed." Nikola paused, taking another deep sip of the wine and letting the rich flavor wash over his senses while he collected his thoughts once more. He continued, determined to keep his tone even, despite the memories he was about to force himself to relive.

"The first symptoms crept up so slowly… Even with her usual good health, it took her a long time to admit something was wrong…"

* * *

_It had been six months since the demise of the Old City Sanctuary._

_Nikola and Helen had been… well, she laughed when he called it "courting" but had hated any other alternative (dating, engaging in a romantic tryst or liaison, going steady). Whatever it was, they had been "together" since then, and though they had quickly become familiar with each other's bedrooms, they had also been busy settling in to their separate spaces (Helen teasingly called it "nesting"). _

_Only in the last month had they begun an entirely new late night dance; one of them would finish their work for the day and seek out the other. They would talk and joke and catch up on the day, and then they would head off to bed… together. It wasn't every night, but it was many. Both of them had several outfits in each other's rooms in order to avoid awkward early morning run-ins with other Sanctuary occupants while wearing the previous day's very-rumpled attire._

_He remembered the day he'd first realized something was different. It had been six months and 3 days since they'd arrived. _

_He woke up in the middle of the night, in Helen's bed, with a breakthrough on his current work with the New Sanctuary power grid. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and Helen had quickly learned to keep a notepad and pencils in the nightstand on what was fast becoming "his side" of the bed. He didn't need a light, thanks to his enhanced eyesight, so he quickly grabbed the pad and began sketching. He felt Helen turn next to him, and opened his mouth to apologize, but his words caught in his throat when he saw her._

_She was sprawled out on her back, perfectly at ease, and still very much asleep. Her messy brown hair flared out around her, and her chest rose and fell with the steady, slow pace of someone still deep in sleep._

_It was the first time he hadn't woken her up by shifting in bed. At the time, he was overjoyed to know she was so comfortable around him that even her subconscious felt safe._

_In the coming days, he would realize that was the first sign she was sick._

* * *

"The first, well, the only major symptom, was simple fatigue. It was subtle, creeping… A yawn, after a long day… Taking a few minutes to fully wake up in the morning… Completely normal things, had she been a normal person, but she wasn't."

* * *

_One day, he'd woken up to find the artificial Sun had already risen. He glanced briefly at the tablet on her nightstand, whose vibration had woken him. There was a message from Will, asking if she was too busy for the morning staff meeting. Was it really that late?_

_"Helen." He said softly, eager to embarrass her with some quip about tiring her out the previous night. She would be so mad to have slept in; he knew her words would be scolding, but her cheeks would flush and she would get dressed quickly and practically flee the room, all in an attempt to avoid the temptation to stay. _

_These thoughts died when she didn't stir._

_"Helen?" This time louder, tentative. "Helen!" Louder still, and this time he placed a hand on her arm and shook her slightly._

_"Hm? Wha-?" Helen's eyes opened slowly, and it took her a few seconds to focus. _

_"Nikola… What… What time is it?"_

_"Helen, you… we slept in, it seems. You, you didn't wake until I… " At that she seemed to fully wake up. She sat up quickly, noticing where Nikola's hand was still perched._

_"Helen, are you alright?"_

_She didn't meet his eyes, and her voice held the slightest hint of a tremor in it when she replied._

_"Nikola… I, I… I'm not sure I am…"_

* * *

"Fatigue is a monstrous ailment. It's too vague, too unquantifiable. It doesn't show up on tests. No one else was feeling sick, so we knew it wasn't contagious. We could shorten the list of possibilities because of her… unusual good health, but test after test failed."

* * *

_She only told Bigfoot, Will, and Henry at first. The tests were done quietly, between meetings and after hours, on the private network she'd set up for Nikola. Toxicology tests showed nothing unusual, x-rays showed nothing there that shouldn't be, and a sleep study showed nothing out of the ordinary with her sleep patterns. Helen was frustrated, but they were both hopeful; it was hardly their first medical mystery, and not even Helen's first mysterious illness this decade. (In his timeline, at least)_

* * *

"The were other mild symptoms: nausea, dizziness, etcetera. There was a brief moment when we thought… we thought we had a diagnosis."

Nikola went quiet. He hadn't meant to bring that up, it had just slipped out, and he'd be damned if he spilled his guts on that particular subject now. He barely realized Stefan was waiting for him to continue.

"What was it?"

"Hmm? Oh. It doesn't matter does it? We were wrong."

* * *

_In the first week at New Sanctuary, he had set up a system to notify him whenever activity happened on his server. Henry was far too curious for his own good. _

_Several weeks after Helen had slept in, he got a ping while working in the main labs; someone was running a very specific test on an unlabeled blood sample from his remote facility. It was either Helen or Henry; neither had given the pass code to anyone else, as per his request._

_He had let the test run, but quickly made his way over there. For the most part, he had left the building as it was when they had first arrived, preferring to stay closer to Helen in the main facility. Whoever was running the test was doing so for the privacy, not the equipment._

_When he arrived, he saw Helen in an uncharacteristically disheveled state. She was seated in a chair near the window, feet tucked under her, still wearing her nightgown with a shawl wrapped around her, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. He wasn't sure what compelled him to knock on his own door, but he did, and she was clearly startled._

_"Nikola! What- How?" She stood up abruptly, pulling the shawl tight._

_"Helen, what's this test for? Why didn't you tell me you had a new theory?"_

_"I- I wasn't sure how to." Her eyes dropped to look at her slippered feet._

_That startled him, throwing him seriously off kilter. What on Earth could it be that she wouldn't want to tell him? He didn't say anything, but she knew he wouldn't let her be and continued._

_"I stared thinking, maybe we're going about this wrong. Instead of the symptoms, maybe we should look at what might have caused it. So I thought about what's changed recently. It's nothing here, I set up this place, lived here on and off over the years. I haven't been on any missions, and no one else is ill. But, there is one thing that's rather…new…" She raised her head to look him in the eyes, and blushed slightly, which caused the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place for him._

_"WHAT?! Helen, you think I gave you some kind of weird, vampire STD?!"_

_For the first time in many days, Helen burst into laughter. Her whole body shook with it; Nikola was so confused he didn't do anything but watch. She took a few steps closer to him, and shifted her shawl to one hand; while the other came up to lightly rest on his chest._

_"Oh, Nikola… Some genius you are! It's something far simpler than that. A much more common side effect of sex, for humans AND vampires."_

_Oh. The sudden whiplash in his mental process hit him harder than any bullet. Helen thought she was pregnant._

_"…But you said… You said you had that…. You know, handled." He made a half-hearted gesture towards her, half his brain still processing the implications._

_"I thought I did. I mean, ever since Ashley's embryo was frozen, I've suppressed my ovulation. But that's a completely hormonal process, and, well…. I thought, perhaps, given both our unusual healing abilities… " It wasn't the strongest scientific argument and they both knew it, but pregnancy matched her symptoms and would explain the timing. "Nikola, I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure."_

_"Why not?" His mind was spinning, his heart rate speeding up. Helen might be pregnant. Helen, his Helen, might be pregnant, with his child._

_"What?"_

_"Why not? Why not tell me? Why hide the test?"_

_"I- I didn't want to worry you, it was just an idea."_

_That wasn't what she meant, and they both knew it. He'd brought up birth control the first night they had sex, but they had had other things on their mind that night beyond talking in coherent sentences. _

_"Helen." He said her name softly, not pressing her for a better explanation or calling her out on her lie. Nikola could see her previous mirth was quickly fading; she was beginning to worry about him, his reaction. He simply pulled her into his arms, pressing her head lightly against his chest._

_"Helen, it's ok." Nikola felt her start to shake, her arms coming up to waist, almost holding on to him rather than embracing him. They stood like that for a while, him rubbing circles in her back, trying to calm her down. Eventually he managed to coax her out of the lab to the nearby living room, and on to a couch with him._

_"Nikola, I'm sorry, we've never really talked about children, and we haven't been together that long, and now there's this and I'm sick and I just started to think that- " Before she could keep going, he kissed her, lightly but with determination, silencing her mid-rant. When they pulled apart, he started speaking before she got a chance to start worrying again._

_"Helen, perhaps I could say something?" He smiled slightly and she did as well, though it faded quickly, and she nodded. His mind had been spinning, but he knew the fear that kept her coming to him with her theory was unwarranted. Nikola reached out to grasp her hands, staring at them as he f__igured out the words he needed to convince her of that fact._

_"Helen, yes, we haven't talked about children, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about the subject. I… In the past I had no interest in children because not only was procreation not a viable way to bring back Sanguine Vampiris, but I did not want raising a child to distract me from my work, nor did I know a woman I would consider a viable partner for such a long term… experiment. "_

_He took a deep breath, trying to put as much emotion as possible in the next sentence._

_"Please understand, Helen, if that test comes back positive there is no man in this world that will be more ecstatic than me."_

_"Nikola – " _

_He couldn't look at her face, he needed to finish this, make sure she truly understood what he meant._

_"I will be ecstatic because then we will have an answer. I know losing Ashley was painful, and I don't know how you feel Helen, but you need to know that I will be here regardless. If you want children someday, or if you never want children ever, I will be here. I can't say I planned on being a father in the immediate future, but all I care about right now is finding out why you're unwell."_

_At that, Helen smiled, and this time it didn't fade. "Oh, Nikola…" She opened her mouth as though she was about to say something further, but seemed to decide not to. She simply shifted her hands in his grip so their fingers were interlaced._

_He didn't press her for her thoughts on the matter; he truly meant what he said, that could wait until after they knew. Neither of them said anything else, content simply sitting together until they heard the ping of the machine in the next room._

_He convinced her to sit while he printed the results and brought them to her. He had remained quiet as she flipped through the file, only saying something when she reached the last page. "Well?"_

_"I'm not pregnant." She said it without any emotion, too drained, it seemed, to decide whether or not she was relieved or upset._

_Nikola said nothing, simply shifting so that he was now sitting with his legs lying down the side of the couch. Helen curled around him, face buried into his chest._

_After a few minutes, Helen began to cry. _

* * *

"It began to accelerate after a few weeks. She started drifting off, first at her desk late at night, then during the day, and finally during meetings and conversations… We still didn't know the cause, but she started taking stimulants, needing more and more as her body developed a tolerance. "

"Eventually she had to spend most of her day hooked up to an IV of hydrocortisone." Stefan's face showed his confusion; Nikola had forgotten the boy was grounded in engineering and the hard sciences, "Adrenaline, Stefan. Constant adrenaline, pumped into her system to keep her conscious and focused."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Indeed. It became impossible to separate potential new symptoms of her ailment from the side effects of the medication, and they, in turn, were becoming debilitating by their own merit. Eventually… eventually she acknowledged that it was no longer a sustainable treatment."

* * *

_It had been five months since they'd realized something was wrong, almost a year since the 5__th__ Ward incident._

_Helen was exhausted, suffering from the side effects of all the steroids, and beyond frustrated at their inability to make any headway on her illness. Nikola tried to put on a brave face when he was with her, but his private lab was strewn with broken bottles and smashed equipment. Every staff member knew something was wrong now, and they avoided him like the plague, though he barely even noticed them any more. Will had been made temporary head of the Sanctuary Network; The fact that Helen hadn't fought the power shift when it was first proposed had worried all of them, suggesting that she was far worse off than she appeared._

_This wasn't the same as the radiation poisoning she'd gotten from Adam's rift nodes two years ago. That had struck at her body; while it weakened her physically, it had done nothing to her drive and focus. The fatigue she felt now was an entirely different entity, seeping her spirit and stealing away her inner fire. She was a shadow of herself, and acknowledging that fact only made Helen's depression grow._

_He knew something was different that day, the moment she walked into his lab._

_"Nikola, we need to talk."_

_He tried to pretend he hadn't noticed, to reply with something flippant. "My dear Helen, you're not breaking up with me are you?"_

_"Nikola. I can't do this anymore."_

_Those words sent a shockwave through his entire body; not the warm crackle of electricity of which he was so fond, but numbing, cold fear. He walked over toward her, but she stepped back, determined to speak her mind._

_"Nikola, I can't. I watched James through the last few decades of his life, how that machine took over, how he was consumed by its demands. I can't spend my life constantly drugging myself awake, attached to an IV just so I can carry on a conversation."_

_He took another step toward her, but she took another back._

_"Helen, please, I know it's hard, but you can't give up. You can't."_

_"Nikola, I'm not myself anymore, and I'm certainly of no help to you in trying to figure this out. I'm of no help to anyone."_

_"Helen– "_

_"No, Nikola, I've decided what I want to do." She held out a syringe to him that she'd had clutched behind her back. He recognized the label instantly; it was an incredibly refined high dose of pure adrenaline. If what she had injected him with when he was bleeding out in Afina's chambers was an AA battery, this was the entire Manhattan power grid. The cold terror he felt was growing stronger, shaking him to his core._

_"Helen, I don't understand… You're body can't handle that."_

_"It can for a short time. About a day. Maybe two."_

_Her eyes looked into his, and he saw a faint spark of her old self. With a jolt of terror, he recognized her expression… It was the same she'd had when she sent him away from her lab before setting the self-destruct. There was sadness mixed with determination, and it made him hate himself for not being able to stop her from feeling that way. It flipped a switch somewhere deep inside his mind, and anger began to seethe within him._

_"Helen, don't you dare, don't you bloody well dare ask me to be ok with this!" His voice was harsher than he'd meant, but he couldn't ignore what she was implying. "Helen, there is no way in hell I'm going to let you even consider … ending your life." He could barely say the words; he just spat them out with as much venom as he could._

_Her eyes went wide, "Nikola, I-"_

_He strode toward her, and for once she just stood still, not flinching as he grabbed her arms._

_"No, Helen, NO! I KNOW it's hard, but I am not giving up, I won't, I-, I CAN'T! You CAN'T! You can't give up; you can't leave me by myself, Helen. Not now, not ever. Please Helen, please, please, love, please…" The last part came out in a whisper, almost a prayer, and he was only barely aware that he kept repeating it over and over, softly._

_"Please, Helen, please…"_

_"Nikola, shhh, Nikola, that's not what I meant, oh Nikola, please, I didn't mean that." A few tears began to slip down her cheek._

_"Then…then what?"_

_"I want to sleep Nikola. I want to use this so I can spend one last day as myself, back as I was, and then… No more steroids, no more drugs... I'll simply sleep.."_

_He couldn't speak. The relief washed over him, but it didn't make things right. It was a thin blanket in a snowstorm. She was still giving up, still abandoning him to solve this puzzle for himself._

_"Nikola… Whatever it is isn't chemical, besides the side effects of the adrenaline; my body appears to be fine. I won't degenerate any further I'll just… sleep. Without the steroids mixing things up you'll be able to isolate what's happening. Please, Nikola, consider it."_

_"If I say no? If I destroy every vial of that vial sludge and lock you in your room?"_

_She smiled slightly, "I won't do it without your permission, I promise."_

_"Do you really mean that, Helen?"_

_"Yes, Nikola. Nikola, I... I love you, I really do, and I've seen what the last few months have done to you. I've already caused you enough pain… I won't do this without your blessing."_

_It was the catch in her voice that made him realize it was the first time either of them had said those words. They'd done every possible permutation of the sentiment, but for some reason, never in that order. "I love you." Perhaps it was because it was so cliche, and they were always determined to be anything but normal, but it had never felt like something that should be said. _

_In a way, even now, it sounded wrong to hear her say it. It wasn't right, it wasn't what they should be saying. They shouldn't be casually talking about her sleeping for eternity while he slaved away looking for a cure. It was a tragic fairy tale, but he and Helen were never meant to be some melodramatic, romantic characters.__  
_

_He couldn't bring himself to say it back to her, to prolong the wrongness further. She knew how he felt, and because of that she had put the decision into his hands. He said the only thing she needed to hear._

_"I need to think about this."_

_"Alright."_

* * *

_She never brought up the topic again, but a few days later he had come to the conclusion that he was being selfish. She was in almost constant pain, and she was right, there was no reason to suspect her condition would worsen if she were allowed to sleep naturally. _

_When he told her, she had smiled and thanked him, but stopped him when he went to get the first vial. She had calculated that her body could handle three doses, each lasting for 8 hours, and she knew how she wanted to spend those last few moments. It took a few days to make the necessary arrangements._

_The first 8 hours were spent with Will, Declan, and the other head staff of the Sanctuary Network, attempting to ensure that there was nothing about New Sanctuary or any of its inhabitants that would go neglected in her absence. She prepped Will as best she could for his new job as the official head of the network._

_The next 8 hours she spent with her Old City Sanctuary family: Henry, Will, Kate, Bigfoot, and now Erika. They talked about old times, old missions and adventures, keeping everything light-hearted except when Helen mentioned that she might not be awake by the time Alistair was born. Eventually everyone but Henry and Bigfoot departed, and the three of them talked quietly about the past, about Ashley, and about Henry's childhood. When their time was almost over, Henry told her that even if she did sleep for a long time, he would make sure she met her grandchild. She cried at that, but she made sure her foster son knew they were tears of joy._

_The last 8 hours, she spent with him, and him alone. For once, he had no plan, and he was surprised as hers consisted of leading him straight to her bedroom. For the first time ever he tried to turn down sex with Helen, but she insisted. Of course, she had made it clear, with one of her irresistible half-smiles, that he was to take up no more than three of her last hours, and he had met the challenge with relish. After a soak in her lovely bath tub and a delectable dinner of all her favorite dishes (which magically appeared at her door), they curled up together on a couch in her sitting room, in front of a roaring fire, sipping on an incredible bottle of Chateau Mounton she'd somehow hidden from him. The pauses between their conversations grew larger and larger, but not uncomfortably so. As the second to last hour began, Helen quietly spoke._

_"Nikola…"_

_"Yes?"_

_"I need you to promise me something."_

_"I won't try to take over the world while you're asleep."_

_Helen chuckled softly, and smiled. "No, that's not it."_

_"I promise to not take blackmail photos of you dressed up in silly outfits."_

_"Nikola!" At that she practically giggled._

_"Hmm… I promise… "_

_"Nikola, please."_

_"Oh, just one more, Helen dear. I promise to leave a tiny bit of lab space for Heinrich, way, waaayy back in a little corner surrounded by mattresses so he can't hurt himself."_

_She laughed again, but quickly fell silent. He could tell she had something she truly needed to say._

_"Nikola, you will keep an eye on them, won't you? Not that you should take that as permission to order them around, but-"_

_"I will, Helen."_

_"Thank you, though that's not what I was going to ask. Nikola, I need you to promise me you won't let this consume you."_

_"Helen?" He was confused at that; he didn't understand what she meant. "Helen, if you think there's any chance that I'm not going to focus entirely on curing you- "_

_"No, Nikola, that's not what I mean. I want you to promise to take care of yourself. I've seen your work drive you to the breaking point, physically and mentally. I know how singular your focus can get, and I love you for it, but Nikola, you and I, we have eternity. I don't want to wake up to find you've wasted away to a shadow of yourself on my behalf."_

_"I promise, Helen... And Helen?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"I love you too."_

_He hadn't known what she meant at the time, not truly. Eventually, he would understand, but that would be well after he broke his promise._

* * *

_They said nothing else for the rest of their time. Eventually he shifted to lie down along the couch, her on top, nestled into his chest, his arms holding her close. _

_As her breathing and heartbeat began to slow, his did too, a subconscious attempt to stay with her as long as possible. _

_Had it not been for his vampiric hearing, he might not have heard her last words to him, ones she'd clearly planned in advance, spoken quietly in his native language of Serbian._

_"Nikola… Zao mi je da te ostavim ovako… Molim te, budi jak, moja ljubavi…"_

_Nikola… I'm so sorry to leave you like this… Please, be strong, my love…_

_"Oh, moj Helena, moj ljubav… " My Helen, my love._

_"Nothing in the world will keep me from being here when you wake."_

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter, it was tough and emotional, but in the end I enjoyed writing it. I know it's very dark, but I hope I didn't stray too far OOC or towards the realm of heavy-handed angst. I did lots of research, but if I screwed something up, please let me know! Also, feel free to guess what's ailing our beloved doctor!**

**The title is the name of a lovely romantic duet with a melody from Borodin's Polovostian Dances. Mostly I chose it because of the pattern – major props to anyone who can guess the title for Chapter 8.**


	8. CH 8 - Paradise Lost

**Sorry for the huge delay, I was in a bit of a funk, but then this chapter just seemed to write itself. I've made some small edits to Ch 7. The theme for these flashbacks was classic works whose name includes "Paradise".**

Chapter 8 – Paradise Lost

_The first year wasn't so bad, looking back on it all now. Nikola had monitored Helen constantly; terrified that she had been wrong and she would grow suddenly worse and slip away when he wasn't watching. Visitors came to see her frequently, and every night he sat by her bedside and read to her, just in case she was even partially conscious. In the days he worked feverishly, each new theory more complex than the last. _

_It was when Alistair was born that things started to change. Henry and Erika were focused on their newborn, and Nikola did not begrudge them that. Will had to handle the extra workload, as did the Big Guy, as the only active Abnormal on the main Sanctuary team. Kate came by with her, now husband, Garris, but eventually Hollow Earth needed them. Declan was busy on the surface, maintaining the charade that London was the only active Sanctuary left._

_He barely noticed as the next year passed by. The days and nights began to blur together, and the others came to visit more and more infrequently. The only constant was Henry and Erika, who brought Alistair by almost every week to visit his grandmother. Nikola found himself wearing the same clothes for days on end, barely noticing the quality of the wine bottles that appeared by his door every few days. He sometimes remembered his promise to Helen; when he did, he would shower and rid his lab of the empty wine bottles before resuming his work._

* * *

_Looking back, it was the third year when someone should've realized it was all going so very wrong. Some creature, Nikola barely remembered now, had been brought into the main labs under sedation, but had escaped and managed to make it to the residential hall. Several of their other residents were attacked, though Nikola was not even aware of what was going on when the thing began slamming against the door to Helen's room. By the time Will and Henry arrived at the scene, it had broken down the door only to find a fiercely protective vampire who had not hesitated to tear it apart._

_Afterwards, Nikola had demanded to be allowed to move Helen to his private lab, where it would be impossible for anyone to get in without his knowledge, those with malicious intents or otherwise. Will had not liked the idea, but consented when the rest of the Sanctuary staff were given limited access permissions to the wing where Helen would be._

* * *

_It was a few months after that when Erica discovered she and Henry would be in for another two years of HAP pregnancy. One of the few conversations Nikola remembered from that year was when Henry had told him they had decided to move to the surface._

_"I want my kids to have a real childhood, to know what the world is like, good and bad. Erika's aunt made her hide inside all her life, but the Doc… She made sure I knew I could live a normal life if I wanted to. She always supported me on that. I want my kids to know that."_

_They had decided to join Declan in the London Sanctuary, which would silence some of the whispers at SCIU from those who had noticed that Will and Henry were both mysteriously off the radar. Abby had, with an immense amount of patience, finally managed to quit SCIU without raising suspicions and quietly move down to the New Sanctuary to join Will. Her arrival, along with a few new hires, took the pressure off of Will enough that he could cope with the loss of his two favorite IT geeks._

_"I'm thinking of taking over one of the shell corporations we use to get resources, make it a real thing. Patent some of the tech we've developed, and maybe recruit some new people, stuff like that. Maybe one day we can expand back to a global network again. I don't know if it's what she had in mind but… I think Magnus would like the idea."_

_Thinking back on it now, Nikola's not sure he even said anything to Henry. Did he say 'congratulations' for the baby? Wish them 'good luck' with their move? Maybe he just said something biting or nothing at all. Maybe he just nodded and then walked past him to check another set of test results._

_He hoped he said something passably nice._

* * *

Stefan had said nothing since Dr. Young had told him about Dr. Magnus' choice to let herself sleep. He couldn't begin to imagine making that kind of choice, not knowing if you would ever wake up again. Knowing that when you woke up the world could be a completely different place, that you might look in the mirror and not recognize yourself, that everyone you knew would be older and different.

He also began to wonder about Dr. Young. What kind of man tries to cure someone for ten years? He said they were old friends… How much do you care about a person to keep trying, and not give up hope? Stefan couldn't imagine doing that, living your whole life being the one responsible for someone else, wondering if this is the day something changes.

How could anyone live like that?

* * *

Nikola was only stirred from his silent musings when Erika came back in to the room, knocking on the doorframe before entering.

"Nikola? I think Stefan should probably rest, if you can spare him."

She looked over the two of them, wondering what Nikola had told the boy. She had been surprised when Henry had told her that Nikola had been willing to tell Stefan about Helen. Even now Nikola disliked talking about what happened, even with Henry. Maybe watering the story down for an outsider made it easier for him to think about it.

Nikola nodded his agreement, and though Stefan seemed ready to protest that he wasn't all that tired, he let Erika wheel him out of the room and down to her office where a bed was set up for him. Perhaps he had noticed that it was Nikola who needed the rest.

* * *

_Nikola didn't want to think about… about the incident. If he let himself dwell on it for too long, he could feel the pit of self-loathing and depression begin to open up to swallow him back down. But, along once more with Stefan off to recover from his injuries, __he couldn't resist sparing it a thought_. 

_He'd been so stupid, so lost, and so unsteady after four years. _

_All thoughts of science had been abandoned long ago; all he could do was pour over his own work, desperate to find a mistake. Nikola made up the most convoluted, borderline illogical theories, just to have something to work on. He fixated on the tiniest details, and began to see patterns everywhere, in Helen's breathing rate, the way she turned in her sleep._

_Nikola was truly desperate for the first time in his life. He found himself praying for her to get better, and was disgusted by himself for trying to call on a higher power he had abandoned long ago. He tried making deals, swearing to be good, to be selfless, to be nice to everyone, to never drink again, to do whatever she asked as long as woke up. If it would make her better, he would find John, cure him, and let them spend the rest of their lives together. If it would make her better, he would leave and never see her for a single moment for the rest of their lives. If it would make her better, he would never invent anything ever again._

_If it would make her better, he would de-vamp himself._

_And then one day…_

_One day he opened his eyes to find himself on the floor of a room he had never been in before, and he knew he had broken his promise to Helen. _

* * *

Henry sat in his office, staring down a glass of scotch he'd poured ages ago, but had yet to drink. Erika had sent him a text a while ago to say that Stefan was sleeping and Nikola was… pensive. He couldn't stop his thoughts from drifting back to the same moments Nikola's were probably lingering on.

_Seeing New Sanctuary for the first time, watching Magnus quietly take Tesla's hand and smile…_

_The first time she confided in him that something was wrong…_

_That last day with her, trying to keep her smiling and happy, trying to not think about the fact that he was about to have a child and his only parent wasn't going to be there to help him…_

_That moment Alistair met his grandmother for the first time…_

_Arriving terrified at Helen's door to find Nikola in full vampire form, his suit stained with splatters of the oni's blue blood…_

_Talking to Nikola about his decision to move, Nikola's muttered words of encouragement - the first things he'd heard the man say in over a month…_

_That phone call… The grief and uncertainty and fear he never expected to hear, never wanted to hear ever again… _

_Seeing Nikola in that dark, cold room, his vacant stare that passed right over Henry, barely registering him as anything more then a new piece of furniture…_

_All his arguments with Will, the shouting and anger… Moving back down to New Sanctuary because he was too afraid what would happen if he wasn't there…_

_Ashelia's birth, and then the quiet tension in the air when he and Erika told everyone their intentions to move back to the surface, with both Helen and Nikola…_

_Will crossing that final line, Henry getting in the first punch, the Big Guy finally pulling them apart…_

_That moment when Nikola finally accepted his offer, with a caveat he never expected…_

_"Foss… Henry. I could use a good lab assistant."_

* * *

**And now we're back to being in the present, but with more mysteries then ever! Theories, reviews, critiques, and unadulterated profusions of love are all welcome. **


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